Wine Stars

Another sold out night at SSU’s Winesense tasting this week.  This time the lure was big reds offered by Ridge Vineyards of Dry Creek Valley and Topel Winery, located in southern Mendocino county.  Seven wines were served with some spicy and robust food pairings.  From Ridge Vineyards, the favorite of the evening was the 2008 Buchignani Ranch Carignane ($26).  This was a big earthy wine with dark red fruit and spice.  Everyone also enjoyed the grenache and zinfandels, but the distinctiveness of the carignane caused it to be a run-away favorite.  For more information, see http://www.ridgewine.com/.  From Topel Winery, it [...]

Most wine research confirms that the Millennials have been driving new growth in the US wine industry over the past 5 years.  Research also suggests that they enjoy red wine and sweeter white wines.  This latter fact proved to be true in an informal wine tasting experiment in Bus 305W this semester at Sonoma State University.  Forty-three Millennials tasted 6 white wines as part of our introductory tasting session this semester.  The wines included chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, riesling, gewürztraminer and muscat, and were tasted in order of increasing sugar.  At the conclusion of the tasting, before brands or [...]

When I arrived at SSU’s Winesense Tasting this week, I was surprised to see a note on the door saying “sold-out; no more seats available.”  This was exciting because it was a testament to the wonderful wines that were served that evening from the Sonoma Coast Appellation.   Over 50 Millennials crowded the room to listen to winemakers Darrin Low of Flowers Vineyard and Paul Clary of Clary Ranch.  Both wineries specialize in growing grapes that crave the cooler climates of the Sonoma Coast AVA.  Flowers is situated near the Pacific Ocean and is famous for its pinot noirs and chardonnay, [...]

It’s hard to believe that there are more than 6,000 wineries in the US now.  Of those, more than 50% are small family wineries crafting hand-made wines, contributing to our economy, and providing lovely vineyard landscapes to beautify America.  Larson Family Winery, located in the Carneros and Sonoma Valley AVAs of Sonoma County, is one of these precious small family wineries.   Founded in the 1800’s, the winery only sells direct to consumers via their tasting room, wine club, and online wine shop (http://www.larsonfamilywinery.com/).  They poured 5 wines for a sold-out crowd of more than 40 millennials at this week’s SSU [...]

A warming glass of port is always a good choice for the winter holidays – especially when paired with decadent desserts.  The SSU Wine Sense Club was able to experience this recently with a tasting of 5 special dessert wines made by Trentadue Winery in Geyersville, California.  See: http://www.trentadue.com/. The Basics of Making Port The tasting was hosted by Assistant Winemaker, Shane Ryan, who described how they grow the grapes and make the wine in this Alexander Valley AVA of Sonoma County.  Port is made differently than still wine in that the grapes are typically picked at a higher degree [...]

We had a full house at Thursday night’s tasting entitled “Sparkling and Big Reds,” featuring Artesa and Karly Winery.  However, red wines seemed to rule the night again, as only one sparkling wine was offered along with a dessert muscat.  Generally these two wine styles would sweep the crowd as favorites, but not with this big red loving group. Artesa Winery Artesa Winery, located in Carneros, started off with exciting offerings of pinot noir, tempranillo, and cabernet sauvignon.  Sarah Helmers, Manager of Consumer Direct Sales, described wine making techniques and appellations of these exciting wines.  The favorite Artesa wine of [...]

(By Guest Author, Brian Shapiro) Last night we had a fantastic opportunity to enjoy the wines from Stryker Sonoma. The winery is located in Alexander Valley and in our opinion typifies the types of wines being produced in that region of Sonoma County -- big, bold reds with a focus on the Bordeaux varietals. Stryker Sonoma brought us five wines; each was a single vineyard 100% varietal wine. The theme of the evening was the “Five Great Bordeaux Varietals” and the winery did not disappoint!  Fresh off of harvest Winemaker Tim Hardin joined me (Stryker P.R. guru) in describing the [...]

Even competing with the Giants game and the rain, we had a decent turn out last night for the “Wines of the Lake” tasting, featuring eight wines from Lake County.  The tasting was led by Pietro of Rosa d'Oro Winery and John McDermaid of McDermaid Family Wines.  They began with an overview of what makes Lake County unique; describing the higher altitude, the impact of Clear Lake on the vineyards, and the swings in temperature from the low 100F’s during the day to a drop of 50F overnight.  We also learned that Lake County has 5 AVA’s (American Viticulture Appellations). The [...]

I love October in Sonoma County, because it means the Harvest Fair is here!  I've attended every year for the past 10 years to taste the top scoring wines.  In addition, I enjoy checking out the monster-size pumpkins, the decorated cakes, visiting all of the sheep, goats, cows, horses, and pig pens, listening to the music, and always catching the Grape Stomp before I leave. Afterwards, I head to some of my favorite wine stores in Sonoma County, because they have great deals on the Harvest Fair medal winning wines.  The two stores I always hit are Bottle Barn and Olivers, [...]

“Who doesn’t like chardonnay?” was one of the daring questions Jessica Schmit, Chateau St. Jean Tasting Room Rep and recent SSU Wine Biz grad, asked the audience of 40 Millennials who showed up to last night’s SSU Wine Sense Club tasting.  When only one person was brave enough to raise his hand, Jessica dared him to a taste off of two CSJ chardonnays.  In the end, he selected, along with the rest of the Millennials, the 2008 Ch. St. Jean Chardonnay from Durell Ranch ($28) as the favorite of the evening. This was the Magic of White Wine Tasting (red [...]

Last night we had our first tasting of the semester for the SSU Wine Sense Club.  Approximately 30 students turned out for the “Savoring Sonoma” tasting featuring famous Sonoma County varietals.  In order to represent the range of Sonoma grapes, we invited two wineries to pour.  Peterson Winery in Dry Creek represented the warmer appellations and Nicholson Ranch Winery located on the border of Carneros and Sonoma Valley highlighted cooler regions. Nicholson Ranch Wines Charles Whittaker, tasting room manager with Nicholson Ranch, described how their wines were made and the different locations for sourcing grapes.  We started with the 2007 [...]